Accordion



March 22, 1938.

N. TURTURRCJ 2,111,953

ACCORDION Filed April 28, 1957 INVENTOR C56; 711A @aA-o ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 22, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to accordions and particularly to the bass action mechanism therefor. As heretofore constructed the bass action mechanism has required an immense amount of hand labor to construct and properly adjust. One of the principal objects of this invention, therefore, is to simplify the construction and, at the saine time, so to form many of the parts that they are capable of mass production and assembly by mass production methods.

Another dimculty with former types of construction is that they are difficult to assemble and disassemble, so that repairs to valve springs or leathers are long, tedious and expensive jobs. A further object of the invention, therefore, is to construct the valve operating mechanism in a series of units which can be readily separated from and then brought back into operative re lation with the other units.

One suitable form of construction is illustrated, by way of example, in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a vertical transverse section through the bass box; and

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a part of the valves and valve operating mechanism, portions being broken away.

As shown, I represents the bass action box having a valve panel 2, with a row of bass valves 3 and a row of melody or accompaniment valves 4 mounted thereon. 'Ihe valves 3 are mounted on arms 5 pivotally mounted on the panel at 6 and normally held closed by wire springs l. Similarly, the valves 4 `are mounted on arms 3 pivotally mounted on the panel at 9 and normally held closed by wire springs I0. The free ends of the arms 5 and 8 are bent to cause the ends of the arms 8 to overlap those of the arms 5, so that, if one of the valves 3 is lifted off its seat, it also raises the corresponding valve 4. On the other hand, if one of the valves 4 is lifted, the companion valve 3 remains closed.

The valves are lifted off their seats by two series of rods I5 and I6 rotatably mounted in a chassis designated as a whole by I'I. This chassis comprises end plates I8, side bars I9 and end bars 2U.

Depending from these bars I5 and I6 are a series of hooks 22, and extending upwardly from the valves 3 and 4 are a series of hooks 23, arranged so that when the chassis is in its proper place, as shown in Fig. 1, the ends of the hooks 22 underlie the ends of the hooks 23. When, however, the screws 24 which hold the chassis in position are removed, and the latter is slid to the left (Fig.

(Cl. SLI-376) l) the hooks 22 are moved clear of the hooks 23, so that the chassis can be lifted out of the bass action box. In assembling the mechanism the operation is reversed.

For turning the rods I5, shift bars 21 are pro- 5 vided, slidably mounted in slots in the side bars I9 and having the usual keys 28 at one end. These shift bars are formed of flat metal strips with recesses 29 cut or stamped out along their lower edges to receive the turned-over ends of pins 3Q attached to the rods I5. By sliding one of the shift bars 27 to the left, the shoulder at one end of the recess engages the pin 30 and causes the corresponding rod to turn and lift its associated valve.

For turning the rods IB a second set of shift bars 33 are provided, slidably mounted in a rectangular frame comprising side members 34 and end members 35. The ends of the side members 34 fit into recesses in the end plates I8 of the 2O chassis. The frame can be readily lifted off the chassis to expose the shift bars 21 and permit their removal. The chassis and the rods I5 and l5 carried thereby can then be removed.

The shift bars 33 are operatively connected to 25 the rods I6 by a series of rod bars 40. As shown, these rod bars consist of flat metal strips recessed along one side to leave projections 4I adapted to engage similarly formed projections 42 on the under side of the flat metal shift bars 33. Where 30 necessary to secure the proper combination of chords, in place of the short projections 4I, long hooked projections 45 may be provided adapted to be engaged by the projections 42 corresponding to another bank of rod bars.

, These rod bars each have an aperture at each end through which extends the upper end of a pin 43 attached to one end of one of the rod bars I6 so that, if one of the rod bars 40 is moved to the right, the corresponding rod I6 is turned 40 about its axis and the valve connected to the latter opened. There are twelve rods I6 and an equal number of rod bars arranged in four sets of three. The frame carrying the shift bars 33 also carries the rod bars 40, so that when the 45 frame is lifted both sets of bars are removed as a unit.

What is claimed is:

1. Bass action mechanism for accordions, comprising a series of rotatably mounted rods adapted when turned about their axes to open the valves, a series of shift bars longitudinally and horizontally slidable transversely of said rods,

a key at one end of each bar, a rod bar for each rod extending transversely of the shift bars and slidable in the direction of movement of the latter, arms mounted on said rods engaging the corresponding rod bars, whereby a sliding movement of one of the latter turns its associated rod about its axis, and projections on each shift bar adapted to engage one or more of the rod bars when the shift bar is moved by its key.

2. Bass action mechanism for accordions, comprising a series of rotatably mounted rods adapted when turned about their axes to open the valves, a series of shift bars longitudinally and horizontally slidable transversely of said rods, a key at one end of each bar, a rod bar for each rod extending transversely of the shift bars and slidable in the direction of movement of the latter, arms mounted on said rods adjacent the ends thereof engaging the ends of the corresponding rod bars, whereby a sliding movement of one of the latter turns its associated rod about its axis, the shift bars consisting of flat metal strips arranged on edge and having portions cut away along their lower edge to receive the rod bars and to leave projections adapted to engage one or more of the rod bars when the shift bars are moved by their keys.

3. Bass action mechanism for accordions, comprising a series of rotatably mounted rods adapted when turned about their axes to open the valves, a series of shift bars longitudinally and horizontally slidable transversely of said rods, a key at one end of each bar, a rod bar for each rod extending transversely of the shift bars and slidable in the direction of movement of the latter, arms mounted on said rods adjacent the ends thereof engaging the ends of the corresponding rod bars, whereby a sliding movement of one of the latter turns its associated rod about its axis, the shift bars consisting of at metal strips arranged on edge and having portions cut away along their lower edge to receive the rod bars and to leave projections adapted to engage one or more of the rod bars when the shift bars are moved by their keys, and the rod bars consisting of at metal strips arranged horizontally and having portions out away along one edge to per- Init certain keys to be operated without moving the rod bars and to leave projections for engagement with the shift bars of other keys.

NICOLA 'I'URTURRO. 

